She works on issues in comparative and American politics, including democratization, clientelism and corruption, political parties, and political reform. Her current research investigates the decline of political parties in advanced democracies. It traces related trends of eroding party organization and of party convergence on significant policy areas since the 1970s.

She received a PhD in political science from Harvard University; as a Marshall Scholar, she studied economic history at Oxford University and politics at the University of Essex. She received a BA in political science from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, her hometown.